The present disclosure relates generally to the field of memory for a computing device. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to the field of preventing data remanence in memory.
Hackers, corporate spies, and government agents may try to obtain sensitive information (e.g., encryption keys, trade secrets, government secrets, etc.) held by others and stored on computers. Proper software coding and safety precautions may make remote access of this information prohibitively difficult. However, direct physical access to the memory may allow an attacker to obtain such information. Thus, sensitive information is often stored in volatile memory so that it can be quickly erased or lost (i.e., evaporated, decayed, etc.) when power is removed from the memory. However, conventional volatile memory tends to retain data when the memory is cooled. For example, the decay rates in memory cooled to −50° C. may be sufficiently low that data stored in the memory without power can be recovered up to one year later. Thus, there is a need for improved systems and methods for preventing data remanence in a memory.